Take Off
by fantaestic
Summary: In which Kise is a pilot, Aomine and Kagami are security guards, Midorima is a flight attendant, Murasakibara works in an in-airport bakery, Akashi is a frequent flyer, Kuroko is an air traffic controller, and everyone else fits in somewhere. The story of a bunch of fools who probably shouldn't be running an airport. [Airport AU]
1. All These Regrets

_**A/N: **written for Challenge 68 (AU) on the basketballpoetssociety on tumblr. um, this will probably be continued eventually, maybe? I don't know yet. but for now, it'll just stay incomplete because I think there will be a continuation when I get time to write it, so yeah. thanks for reading and reviews would be lovely!_

* * *

It was not often that Kise regretted all of the years he spent studying his butt off in pilot school, but unfortunately for him, this was one of those times. As he stared down at his assignment sheet for the day, he wondered briefly if by ripping it up he could void all of his duties for the rest of his shift. But he was sure that the copy in his hands wasn't the only copy. Kasamatsu wouldn't be that careless and he was sure his assigned copilot would have a copy of it too.

Just as he was about to call one of his coworkers and ask if they would trade flights with him, the one person he was trying to avoid strolled up to him and swung a rather heavy arm around his shoulders.

"Well, Ryouta-kun, looks like I'm your copilot for the day." Haizaki looked over Kise's shoulder down at the paper he didn't have the courage to rip up. The silver haired man raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Looks like we're flying to the States. That's a pretty long flight," Haizaki mused, grinning mockingly at Kise. All Kise could do was bare a thin smile in return.

There weren't that many reasons why Kise regretted his career choice, but Haizaki Shougo was definitely one of them.

* * *

Hyuuga looked over at the tall man next to him and wondered how someone could be so cheerful and energetic at three in the morning. Then he wondered whose bright idea it was to assign him the early morning shift (he wouldn't be surprised if the culprit turned out to be Riko, who was most likely getting back at him for volunteering her to help out the flight attendants when they were shorthanded).

Kiyoshi smiled brightly at an elderly woman as he handed her her ticket. As he bowed and thanked her for choosing their airline, Hyuuga noticed that there wasn't the faintest sign on Kiyoshi's face leading to the fact that it was too early in the morning for any reasonable person to be that lively.

But then again, the airport workers he knew weren't exactly the most sane of people.

"Hyuuga, you looked tired," Kiyoshi said once the woman was on her way to her gate. "Couldn't sleep?" A friendly grin was thrown Hyuuga's way and he resisted the urge to slap that stupid grin off of Kiyoshi's face.

Instead, Hyuuga frowned and pushed up his glasses in annoyance. "Considering the fact that you dragged me out for drinks until midnight last night and the fact that it is now only three o' clock in the morning, no Kiyoshi. I could not get any sleep."

"You should have thought about that before volunteering me as a flight attendant last week," Riko suddenly interrupted as she exited the break room behind the two. She was holding a clipboard, and the walkie-talkie clipped onto the waist of her skirt was making all kinds of noises. It looked like she was just about to make her final rounds for the day before going home for a well deserved rest. "I had to serve the flight with Midorima. Do you know how weird that man is?"

Hyuuga spared a glance towards Kiyoshi, who was once again defying the laws of the universe by smiling a thousand mega watt smile despite the fact that the sun wasn't even out yet. "No," he said, sighing, "but I think I have a close idea."

* * *

"Bakagami!"

Kagami grimaced once he heard the all too familiar deep voice calling for him. He just knew that the moment he turned around his worst nightmare would be confirmed. But despite his conscience telling him not to, he did so anyway and groaned when he saw the tanned man walking towards him. Once he caught sight of that god awful smirk on the other's face, he was about ready to go complain to whoever the hell it was that thought it was a good idea to assign him the same shift as the devil incarnate.

"I'm glad I get to spend my day with you, Bakagami," Aomine drawled as he popped open his work locker and pulled out his security uniform.

Kagami made a mental note to request a locker change soon too. Whoever decided to place his locker next to Aomine's must've been smoking something really strong to think that the arrangement would work out.

Kagami buttoned up his shirt and slammed his locker closed. Yawning and stretching, he mentally prepared himself for another day of angry, impatient passengers and petty security threats. Just as he was about to walk out of the room, he felt Aomine pat him on the back and he turned around just in time to see Aomine flash him a cocky smile. "Come on, _bestie_, let's get ready for another fun day at work, why don't we?"

Yup. Aomine was definitely the devil in disguise and unfortunately for Kagami, it seemed as if the devil had his eyes set on the poor, unfortunate rookie.

* * *

For the third time in the past five minutes, the food and drink cart was pushed into Midorima's ankles. He turned around to glare at the flight attendant casually leaning against the cart as he flirted with another attractive passenger.

"Moriyama-san, please pay attention," he said, gritting his teeth. "We are getting paid to serve the passengers, not to flirt with them."

Moriyama regretfully tore his eyes away from the busty beauty sitting in the sixteenth row in seat A. He sighed and continued to push the cart down the aisle, this time careful not to run into Midorima again. "You're such a kill joy, Midorima, isn't that right, Satsuki?"

Momoi Satsuki looked up from the little kid she was helping. With a frown, she said, "Don't pull me into another squabble between you two." She obviously had not forgotten what had happened last time she tried to interfere between two coworkers (let's just say she tried to nose her way into a bickering couple's business and was then accused of trying to steal the female worker's boyfriend. A cat fight ensued, much to the delight of all of their male coworkers). "But Midorin is right, Moriyama-san. Stop wasting time and help serve the passengers."

"Right, right," Moriyama muttered, but his forlorn look did not last for long as he saw another pretty lady sitting a few rows ahead.

Once they reached said pretty lady's row, the meal cart was once again jammed into Midorima's ankles. Midorima resisted the urge to snap at his senior. "Momoi," he called instead, "how much longer until we land?"

Momoi looked at her wrist watch with squinted eyes. "Around six Tokyo time, so three more hours?"

Midorima groaned.

* * *

"Atsushi, can you please make me a black coffee?" Akashi leaned against the counter of the bakery, his bright red hair a contradiction to his tired and bored face. "I have a flight in an hour so can you hurry?" he added once he saw that Murasakibara was still just lazing around in the back licking a lollipop.

"Yes, yes, Akachin, I'll make one for you right now." He turned around and immediately yelled out, "Hey, Murochin? Can you make Akachin a black coffee?"

Akashi couldn't help but smile slightly as he heard Himuro call out a yes from the back. "I see you're working hard as always, Atsushi."

Murasakibara took the lollipop out of his mouth with a pop and said, "Of course Akachin. I'm not a slacker like Murochin."

"Here's your coffee Akashi-kun," Himuro said, handing Akashi his steaming cup of coffee. With a pointed look at Murasakibara, he added, "And I'm sorry we all can't be the perfect worker like you, Atsushi." He looked back at Akashi. "Where are you flying to today?"

"Hong Kong. A partner of my father's company is requesting my immediate supervision on a project." To be honest, Akashi didn't really like to travel back and forth constantly, especially not at the beck and call of his father's business partners. But it must be done and he had no choice in the matter.

Himuro just nodded. "Well have a safe trip, see you when you come back!"

Akashi waved, suddenly realizing that he had less time than he originally thought before his flight's departure, and walked off. He grabbed a newspaper on the way out for a source of entertainment on the surely to be boring flight.

* * *

"_Alpha Delta 727, Tokyo Ground, taxi to holding point A1, runway 15_."

"Kurokocchi? Is that you? Why are you yelling? Is something wrong with the radio?" Kise's voice filtered through Kuroko's headset.

A few seconds later Kuroko heard a voice he later would find out to belong to Haizaki say, "Maybe it's because you've got the volume turned all the way up, dumbass."

But today that was not the case. Kuroko was indeed yelling at the pilot, as he had been doing for all the other pilots who requested contact with the control tower. If he didn't, he was positive that Hanamiya and Imayoshi's bickering would be heard instead of his directions.

"You blatantly disregarded my instructions and went ahead with your own!" Hanamiya shouted. His eyebrows were knitted together and he looked more than pissed off. And it had only been five minutes since he came into work.

"I am your superior, I am allowed to override your directions," the man with the unnervingly polite Kansai dialect replied. Imayoshi wasn't wrong. He was, undeniably, one of the supervisors, however, the problem was the fact that Hanamiya was also one. Those two have known each other since middle school, but Kuroko was sure that there was never a moment that they were able to peacefully coexist. "Your instructions were totally off the mark anyway. That plane would've crashed had it listened to you."

Hanamiya was fuming at this point. "For god's sake, I have worked here longer than you! I should be your superior, stupid!"

Kuroko looked at the two forgotten seats next to him. He could see on the screens that more and more planes were ready to depart or land and there was no way he could do it all by himself. "Excuse me, Imayoshi-san, Hanamiya-san, I think there are a few planes requesting assistance…" he trailed off when he realized that neither of the two were listening to him.

He sighed and turned the volume to his headset up a bit more, hoping that would work to drown out the noise. "Sorry about that, Kise-kun." He resumed the yelling of his instructions, but he was once again drowned out by the argument happening behind him.

Kuroko sighed again. If only he could ignore his coworkers like they ignored him.


	2. That'd Be Great

**_A/N: _**_Forgive me for this awful chapter. I honestly don't even know where I'm going with this, but I think I have a semi plot sketched out. Nonetheless, this _is_ a romance, or it should be, so pairings and such should start to become clearer soon (tbh, I don't even know who the final pairings myself because I change my mind a lot...) Anyway, if anyone is confused on who is what, I've included a character chart at the end of the chapter with the characters that have already been introduced. Thank you for reading and thanks to all who reviewed!_

* * *

Kise looked over at his copilot in slight awe, and then looked back a little terrified. How in the world was the man sitting next to him the same one who had been hitting on flight attendants not even twenty minutes ago?

While studying in school, Kise met all kinds of pilots. There was the strict ones that did everything by the book, the anxious ones that were always doubting themselves, and then there were people like him and Haizaki. The natural ones. The ones that could fly perfectly after the first time watching someone.

However, Haizaki seemed to be in a whole different class than himself. Haizaki looked like a thug most of the time, not someone you would trust to get you safely to your destination. But even so, acquaintances he managed to always make sure that he greeted each and every passenger with a smile (though it was a little scary, seeing him smile like that). He may have not looked the part, but Haizaki could sure be counted on when it mattered.

They entered the airline company around the same time, with Haizaki becoming an employee a bit before himself. Their supervisors immediately paired them up together because of their natural affinity for piloting. Because of this, when they weren't forced to work together, they often competed against each other. However, due to Kise's superior skill and maturity, he was immediately promoted to captain while Haizaki was left to be a copilot. Haizaki resented Kise for it, and Kise couldn't find it in himself to blame him. Haizaki threatened to leave the company a few times, but ultimately, his love for the skies tied him down to his plane and he stayed.

It had been three years and their relationship had morphed to one of acquaintances, albeit barely. Their coworkers could attest to that, considering that when they first started at the company, they were always at each other's throats at every possible moment. They tolerated each other better, or at least, they attempted to. Haizaki wasn't such a rude asshole all the time and Kise did his best not to be a condescending piece of shit constantly (these were the words they used to describe each other when asked about their relationship).

"Hey," Kise said, an hour or two into their flight to the States, "it looks like we're getting some turbulence." He flipped the switch for the seat belt sign to light on. Haizaki didn't respond, or even make any sign that he had heard Kise at all, so Kise assumed it was okay for him to make the announcement to the passengers. He grabbed the microphone and cleared his throat, getting ready to speak in what he called his 'professional voice' (Haizaki called it his douchebag voice, while a lot of people just called it his sexy voice). "This is your Captain, Kise Ryouta, speaking, and-"

The microphone was suddenly grabbed out of his hands. Kise looked over at his copilot in disbelief as he said, "And this is your _other_ captain, Haizaki Shougo." Kise narrowed his eyes at the slightly younger man in the next seat over. Haizaki did always hate the copilot title and he'd be damned before he called himself Kise's copilot.

Haizaki ignored Kise and just continued speaking, though the arrogant smirk on his face did not go unnoticed. "We are currently hitting a patch of turbulence, so I'd like for all passengers and flight attendants to please return to their seats and stay there until further notice. Thank you for your cooperation."

The moment the microphone clicked off, Kise blurted out, "What was that for?"

Haizaki feigned innocence. "What was what for?"

Kise scowled, starting to get annoyed. And the fact that he still had another ten plus hours with Haizaki did nothing to appease him. "Don't act stupid. I was making the announcement and then you took the microphone away from me! I thought you didn't care!"

Haizaki shrugged. "I hadn't cared originally, but then you started speaking and I had the sudden urge to do so too."

The blond pilot groaned, wondering to himself how someone like Haizaki could switch personalities so quickly.

After three years, it seemed like some things were just meant to always stay the same.

Kise looked over once again, and his jaw to dropped as he watched Haizaki unwrap a lollipop that he had spent ten minutes convincing Murasakibara to give to him.

Haizaki raised an eyebrow at him. "What? Like what you see?" Haizaki stuck the sucker in his mouth and winked. And then, just for good measure, he licked it a bit more suggestively than needed.

"No," Kise said, disappointment seeping from his voice. The look of disgust on his face wasn't very well hidden either. "It's just that that was mine..."

Haizaki only laughed in return.

Some things never do change, and that, unfortunately, included Haizaki's fondness for taking other's things.

* * *

"Miyaji-san!"

Miyaji's eyes widened once he heard the annoying high pitched voice calling for him. Immediately, he started to look for a hiding spot, but because he had been assigned to help passengers find their gates, he was standing in plain view in the middle of one of the departure buildings.

So, instead of his preferred plan of finding a place small enough that the dumb blond couldn't find him at, he had to resort to holding his clipboard in front of his face. That, of course, did nothing to help.

"You're so silly, Miyaji-san! I can still see you!"

Miyaji sighed and lowered the clipboard as he prepared to meet his worst nightmare.

Hayama Kotarou was standing in front of him, dressed to the nines for some odd reason though Miyaji knew he wasn't going anywhere. A bright smile and expensive wrist watch completed his look. Miyaji couldn't stop staring at the gold Rolex watch and he wondered how much it was worth. From all the diamonds on it, the watch looked liked it cost more than his salary.

"Miyaji-san, what time do you get off work today?" Hayama asked, his eyes widened and he batted his eyelashes, obviously excited for the date that would never happen. Miyaji tried to shake the annoying customer off by walking away but he followed him. "Let's go somewhere after work!"

Miyaji ignored him, like he did every time Hayama came to visit. But it wouldn't matter whether he neglected him or not. No matter how many times Miyaji told him to go away, Hayama would show up again without fail. It was like the man had selective hearing or something and only listened whenever Miyaji wasn't telling him to leave him alone.

"I'm working late tonight and I don't want to do anything with you." To any other person, the rejection would've come off as harsh, but Hayama was the type of person to bounce right back from something like that. In any case, Hayama noticed that Miyaji didn't sound as cold as usual.

"Besides," Miyaji said, glancing at the plane ticket in Hayama's hands, "Don't you have a flight to get to?"

Hayama shook his head, almost too eager. "I was on my back from dinner with my parents and I wanted to see you, so I bought a plane ticket. They won't let me in otherwise." Hayama pouted slightly as this, while Miyaji just sighed in relief.

That was Hayama Kotarou for you. His parents were some big shots at some large company (Miyaji never paid attention long enough to find out what exactly that company was) and the Hayama family was filthy rich. Anyone could see that without even asking. Hayama was always dressed like he was about to have dinner with the president (but knowing him and his background, that probably wasn't far off from what he was really doing). Hayama was spoiled rotten and was given everything he could ever want. He'd never had to work a single day in his life while here Miyaji was, working his butt off for a measly pay.

Hayama also had too much free time on his hands, and add that to the fact that he had an odd attachment to Miyaji, you get Hayama being at the airport at least three times a weak – whether he had a flight or not.

"So? How about it? Let's go out and play!"

Miyaji wondered how much time it would take for security to come up there. And if any of them would be willing to detain the Hayama's sole heir, that'd be great too.

* * *

There was a deafening silence in the meeting room as six supervisors stared at each other awkwardly.

Ootsubo, one of the supervisors for the security branch, coughed, trying his best to break the silence, but it was futile. The six continued to just glare at each other as they waited for whoever it was they were waiting for to come in and start the meeting.

A few minutes later the door swung open to reveal a flustered Momoi and the others in the room nearly sighed in relief at the sight of her, for they didn't know whether they could stand the quietness anymore. "I'm so sorry for making you all wait! My flight ran late."

Not only was Momoi an outstanding supervising flight attendant, she was _also_ and wonderful assistant to the higher ups, and they often asked her to run meetings in their stead. In short, Momoi Satsuki was a very capable woman.

She set the stack of files down before and took her place at the head of the table. "Alright, so first I – Haizaki-kun?" She stopped mid sentence once she saw the silver haired man sitting leisurely at the end of the table. "What are you doing here? This is a meeting for the supervisors."

"Kasamatsu is on a flight and it's Kise's day off. I was his last option," he explained, already looking bored to death.

"You shouldn't sound so proud of that..." Momoi muttered under her breath. She took another look around the table and noticed that out of the six people there, only four were actual supervisors, and two came from the same section.

"Hanamiya-san and Imayoshi-san, it wasn't really necessary for both of you to show up. I only asked for one."

Hanamiya looked like he was about to say something, but Imayoshi was quicker and spoke up first, much to his chagrin. "Sorry about that, Momoi, Hanamiya doesn't understand that I am the better supervisor and that you were asking for me to come. You're going to have to forgive him for his mistake."

Momoi's eyebrows furrowed. "Actually, I-"

"Oh, don't give me that bulllshit! It was obvious that I was the one meant to attend the meeting. I've worked here longer than you!" Hanamiya argued. Imayoshi just rolled his eyes. Hamamiya's longer work experience seemed to be his only argument, and Imayoshi had nothing to worry about.

Riko loudly sighed, gaining Momoi's attention. Once she did so, she mouthed at Momoi to please hurry the meeting along. Momoi nodded. "Right, okay, well-" She stopped once again when she noticed a small figure shaking in the corner of the room. "Sakurai, please stop cowering in the corner and please take a seat."

All heads in the room turned to look at the petite Starbucks worker, and that seemed to only make him more nervous. "Sorry!" he shouted, burrowing his head into his chest even more. "I'm sorry for intruding in on the meeting!"

"No, Sakurai, it's really okay. Mitobe-san already told me-"

"I'm sorry!"

"Okay, that's enough!"

Now it was everyone's turn to stare at Ootsubo. While the security guard was a usually quiet man, he had no patience for his coworkers acting like children, not after having to deal with Aomine and Kagami all day. He stood up, his arm muscles flexing as he did so. "Momoi, can we please get this meeting started?"

She just nodded her head, still entranced by his biceps. Riko, who was sitting next to the extremely fit man, seemed to be in a daze also. Sakurai immediately returned to his seat and Haizaki sat upright, quickly taking his legs off of the tabletop. Ootsubo's presence also somehow stopped Imayoshi and Hanamiya's bickering.

Ootsubo sat back down, pleased at how the other's listened to him so well.

Momoi snapped out of her trance and once again went into her professional mode. The mood in the room shifted with her change. "Alright, well this should be a quick and easy meeting. There's only one message from the higher ups, but unfortunately, I'm sure it's news that no one wants to here." Everyone listened intently as Momoi shuffled some papers around. Her reluctance to announce the news was obvious.

She took a deep breath and decided that it was better to rip the bandage off quickly than slowly. "It's that time of year again." Everyone in the room blanched. She nodded sadly. "It's time for the yearly evaluations."

Everyone groaned. Evaluations were a mutually hated thing among the staff. One week out the year, each supervisor would have to fill out a form for each employee under their branch. It was a tedious job that no one liked because it meant having to be extremely close to their coworkers. Every move was jotted down, every word was recorded. And yet, in the end, none of it mattered because at the end of the week all the files would be sent up the main office, never to be heard about again.

The supervisors hated it because they wouldn't be able to get any work done for the entire week, and the employees hated it because it meant having a supervisor breathing down their neck and jotting down every single move of theirs.

It was a lose – lose situation for everyone.

Haizaki suddenly snorted. "I'm so glad I'm not a supervisor."

The five actual supervisors in the room glared at him. If they didn't have to deal with employees like Haizaki Shougo during the next week, that would be absolutely fantastic.

* * *

**CHARACTER CHART**

**PILOTS**: Kasamatsu (supervisor), Kise, Haizaki

**FLIGHT ATTENDANTS**: Momoi (supervisor), Midorima, Moriyama

**GROUND ATTENDANTS**: Riko (supervisor), Hyuuga, Kiyoshi

**SECURITY**: Ootsubo (supervisor), Aomine, Kagami

**FOOD STAFF**: Mitobe (supervisor), Murasakibara, Himuro, Sakurai

**AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL**: Kuroko, Imayoshi, Hanamiya

**OTHER**: Akashi, Hayama


End file.
